sciencewoman | June 12, 2008The view from a friend's house. If you look closely (or embiggen) there's a snow-capped peak in the background.
Early this morning, Minnow and I returned to Mystery City from a week-long trip to Utopia, land of my former inhabitance.The trip was a fully-integrated mixture of business and pleasure.
The ostensible purpose was a to write a paper from work that I did during my post-doc. Not a single word was actually written, though we certainly did work hard on refining (making more exciting?!) the project. I also got some materials to use for my new prep next semester and a chance to meet with…
skookumchick | June 12, 2008You may have read this announcement already - it's making the rounds on the "women in STEM" listservs (I got this version off of WEPAN, but I also saw it on the NSF-PGE listserv). It reads:House Celebrates Women Scientists, Technologists, Engineers, and Mathematicians
On June 4, the House approved, by voice vote, a resolution (H. Res. 1180) recognizing the efforts of outstanding women scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians in the United States and around the world.
Sponsored by Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:
women have…
skookumchick | June 12, 2008Newsweek isn't really my mag - I'm more of a Ms, Mother Jones, Yes! magazine reader, or would be if I didn't have so much other stuff to read too - but I got a subscription as a gift, and it serves in lieu of conversation as my breakfast companion. Two articles of note this week:
A great piece on why biology should be a general education requirement for everyone, by Sally Hoskins, a professor at the City College of New York. She writes, "Science isn't old information pressed like crumbling fall leaves between the pages of forgotten books. It's alive - growing and shifting and blossoming."…
skookumchick | June 11, 2008I had a meeting yesterday at 4, but was stood up (by a colleague who is now completely apologetic). I had another meeting today I thought at 1:30, but no one appeared. I went back to my office, saw I had got the time wrong and it was at 2:30. The meeting had been scheduled for 2, and I had misread the change of time email. In addition, I scheduled another meeting at 3 so I would have ended up talking to the 2:30 person for only 30 minutes. So I swapped my 3:00 meeting with the 3:00 person's 3:30 meeting, which worked out well for the 3:30 meeting person as she had the meeting on her…
skookumchick | June 11, 2008Okay, I've been having some interesting conversations on and offline about what boils down to engineering epistemology and identity. Of course, that's my research area, so I dig it. And I want to start having a bigger conversation about if there's anything particularly indelible or inherent about "engineers" or "engineering." But first I want to throw open the comment doors, and see what your thoughts or beliefs are about engineers' place in the world - how they construct themselves, how they reproduce or resist disciplinary narratives about engineering, why they may be more prone to…
skookumchick | June 10, 2008So I'm going to bed *now* (it's hard to go to bed really early when the sun doesn't set until almost 9:30) and get up at 6:30 and do yoga. And if I don't, I will have to 'fess up to you. And then I am going to prep for my meeting with my research group, and then review an article that I have to send my review in by June 11. And then, after my research group meeting, I will work on my first presentation for next week. I hope.
I need to get back to the plan, in other words.
Tune in tomorrow to see how I do. And maybe see a photo of our CSA haul, now that I've charged up the camera batteries.…
skookumchick | June 10, 2008This is another excerpt from our travel journal to Isle Royale. The first day is here. Photos by me, text by my husband.
Monday May 26
Copper Harbour to Isle Royale
Writing is often a bit behind. [No kidding.] Today's entry starts on the day advertised, but I am under few illusions that I will finish before the light kicks out. The sun sets very late here on the extreme northwest edge of the US part of the Eastern time zone -- 9:45 pm and I'm still on natural light, streaming in through our large picture window overlooking Tobin Harbour. They definitely set up the cabins right, and also…
skookumchick | June 9, 2008Okay, I lied, one more thing. Zuska has put together a really smashing Scientiae this month, on the theme of "Adding Weight: Taking Up Space." She also wrote a really great post on how she has to let go of her family's home.
Go show her some love, will you? Thanks for both posts, Zuska.
skookumchick | June 9, 2008Well, darn it. I'm back in Slug Pattern. I skipped yoga and watched TV this evening, and nothing good at that. I didn't work this afternoon, even though I have things to do. I didn't even clean up around the place. My husband drove back to the other house this afternoon after we spent 2.5 hours (and $1300, yikes!) at the travel agency for train tickets for our trip to/around Europe in a few weeks, and I lost the will to do anything. I ate garbage for dinner, and didn't do the dishes. I didn't even blog about Day 2 of our trip (only Day 2! augh!) and all it would have taken is copying…
skookumchick | June 7, 2008Note: When we travel, we keep journals. My husband writes, and I take the photos; he skips the back of every page, and I put in photos. The next few posts from me will be from our journal of our trip to Isle Royale at the end of May. Note also that the "I"s are my husband, and the "Alice"s are me. :-)
Sunday May 25
Madison to Copper Harbour
The trip begins today, as we move from the real world into a few days of removal. We're up to getting away -- forgetting all of the issues and troubles of home. No thoughts this week of the job(s), the new job at Purdue for me (maybe) the impending…
sciencewoman | June 5, 2008Dear Sciencewoman,
I'm currently in the last 6 months of my PhD, and I have an 8 month old. I love research, but I want more time with my child, and I am curious if there is such a thing as a part time post doc. How did you get that kind of position? Did you have to create the position with your advisor?
Thanks!
Mommy, soon-to-be PhD
Dear Mommy, soon-to-be PhD,
My part-time post-doc began as a full time position, and switched to part-time only for a few months between the birth of my daughter and me leaving for the tenure-track. It worked really well for me, personally and professionally,…
skookumchick | June 4, 2008It has been proposed by the fabulous Pat of FairerScience and other places that the developing genre of "women in science" blogs might be used as a way to recruit girls and young women into science and engineering careers(see a good outline and guidelines here). Women who write about their passion for doing science, their ideas for balancing work and family, their professional desires and challenges may indeed encourage girls who are readers to consider science - I think about it as an online version of seeing women as role-models in science.
I'd like to get your thoughts on the subject, in…
skookumchick | June 3, 2008ScienceWoman mused about the completion of her first year here, and I had hoped I would develop similar observations and reflections while on Isle Royale. Truth be told, rather than taking the hiking time to think, uninterrupted, about the last year, I did anything but. Think, that is. Instead, I turned the intellectual brain off, and instead looked for orchids and wolf tracks and birds, and engaged in random brain static conversation with my husband about our house and his developing job. It was like a brain vacation.
However, on the 600 mile drive back, I did have chance to think a bit…
sciencewoman | June 3, 2008I've blogged before about my difficulties in getting adequate and unrestricted start-up funds from my university. Where we left the story, I'd been awarded about 2/3 the start-up funds I needed, with an oral promise that I would be "first in line" for money when I arrived. I also had to spend every cent of my start-up funds before I ever arrived on campus, leaving me literally penniless as I tried to get my lab set-up. The net result of all this is that I bought a big fancy piece of equipment (BFPE) and didn't have enough to buy the doojab to actually make the equipment run.
As soon as I…
skookumchick | June 2, 2008
We got back from Isle Royale Saturday night to a house with no toilet. Luckily enough, we have another house a mere 120 miles away, so really got home late late late Saturday night, and spent Sunday recovering. Today, shockingly, I actually got a good dent done in my research! I'll have some stories to tell over the next couple of days about our 3 days Up Nort, including a moose encounter and some wild orchid macro shots, or you can get the photographic preview here. Suffice it to say for now that it was fabulous, but cold, but fabulous - over 20 miles of hiking, and only 3 other…
sciencewoman | May 29, 2008So I meant to have a nice post today addressing Ecogeofemme's challenge of describing how we write papers/proposals, but I haven't actually managed to do any writing today like I was supposed to.
Instead, I am going to point out the at times thoughtful, at times heated discussion going on around the blogosphere about whether academics with kids really have it harder than the rest of working adults. The discussion originated from an IHE piece about new studies that found that academics had lower birth rates than doctors or lawyers.
From there, Dean Dad wrote a post with his observations on…
sciencewoman | May 27, 2008It's the day after Memorial Day - time to admit that it's summer. Time to resign myself to well-meaning neighbors who ask: "So, are you teaching this summer or do you have it off?" And it's time to let you all know about my summer plans. No, I don't "have it off" this summer, but you already knew that. (I am, of course, doing research for most of the summer. My goal is to get two papers submitted, a student launched on his/her MS research, and at least one more proposal written and submitted. I also need to write the labs for my new prep.)
With the shift in responsibilities, comes a shift in…
skookumchick | May 27, 2008
Wonder if these will look as good when we get back? I love those early purple azaleas too, am hoping we can get some for our mudpit garden...
skookumchick | May 25, 2008
Yep, that's pretty much me - a bleeding heart.
I should be on the boat to Isle Royale by now...